2017 Nicky Rackard Cup


The 2017 Nicky Rackard Cup was the 13th staging of the Nicky Rackard Cup hurling championship since its establishment by the Gaelic Athletic Association in 2005. It is the third tier of senior inter-county championship hurling.
Mayo, the 2016 champions, were promoted to the 2017 Christy Ring Cup after defeating Derry in the promotion/relegation playoff 1-21 to 1-14.

Format

The 2017 Nicky Rackard Cup is played in a double-elimination format. For clarity, the match-ups are explained in each round below.
The seven teams competing in 2017 were Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Longford, Louth, Monaghan, and Tyrone. Fingal were scheduled to compete but withdrew for 2017.

Round 1

Six of the seven teams play in Round 1. The seventh team receives a bye.

Round 2

Round 2A

Contested by the three winners of Round 1 and the team that received a bye.

Round 2B

One match contested by two of the three losers of Round 1. The other losing team from Round 1 receives a bye.

Quarter-finals

The two losers of round 2A played the winner of round 2B and Monaghan, who had received a bye from that round. These two matches are referred to as quarter-finals.

Semi-finals

The winners of round 2A play the winners of the two quarter-finals.

Final

The winners of the Nicky Rackard Cup are automatically promoted to next year's Christy Ring Cup.

Bracket

Relegation play-off (cancelled)

Normally contested by the two losers from round 2B as both these teams lost their first two matches. In 2017, no team was relegated as Fingal withdrew, thereby creating a vacant place in the normal eight-team Nicky Rackard Cup which was taken up by Warwickshire, the winners of the 2017 Lory Meagher Cup.

Scoring statistics

;Top scorers overall
RankPlayerTeamTallyTotal
1David CarvillArmagh2-3440
2Damian CaseyTyrone2-2329
3Alan GrantDerry4-0921
3Brendan RogersDerry6-0321
5Davin FlynnDonegal2-1117
5Ruairí ConveryDerry1-1417
7Conor CorvanArmagh1-1316
7Lee HendersonDonegal0-1616
7Donal MeeganMonaghan0-1616
10Brian CassidyDerry3-0615
10Patrick WalshLongford0-1515

;Top scorers in a single game
RankPlayerTeamTallyTotalOpposition
1David CarvillArmagh1-1114Tyrone
2Damian CaseyTyrone1-1013Donegal
3Brendan RogersDerry3-0211Longford
3Alan GrantDerry2-0511Longford
3Damian CaseyTyrone0-1111Armagh
3Ruairí ConveryDerry0-1111Louth
3David CarvillArmagh0-1111Louth
8Brendan RogersDerry3-0110Monaghan
8Brian CassidyDerry2-0410Longford
8Conor CorvanArmagh1-0710Longford
8Donal MeeganMonaghan0-1010Tyrone